Comments on: U.K. online music hobbled by high prices

Despite the rising number of iTunes-style stores, the United Kingdom has yet to benefit from more choices or cheaper pricing, IDC says.

[Scott W]

mp3 isn't unified?

so the article is saying that even if you download a song there is no guarantee that it will work on your music player! this stinks of DRM. why don't they just remove all that BS and just let consumers enjoy their music? like i've said before, i will always refuse to buy online music, because of the lower quality and the DRM. i'd rather buy a CD and rip it in .ogg format and listen to it on my PC. hell, if i get a player that supports .ogg then i'll be set for life! :D

[Scott W]

mp3 isn't unified?

so the article is saying that even if you download a song there is no guarantee that it will work on your music player! this stinks of DRM. why don't they just remove all that BS and just let consumers enjoy their music? like i've said before, i will always refuse to buy online music, because of the lower quality and the DRM. i'd rather buy a CD and rip it in .ogg format and listen to it on my PC. hell, if i get a player that supports .ogg then i'll be set for life! :D

Economics 101

Mr. Warner and the Record Labels seem to have forgotten their Enco 101: Price Elasticity.

I other words, Mr. Warner and the Labels are losing No Money with lower prices. They are making it up in volume and volumn. If there were a shortage of CD's for sale, then a price increase might be justified. As Apple has considerable bandwidth to handle the load, no price increase is required.

Now, is a critical stage in music downloading, Apple is selling IPods at very competitive prices, esp. the flash memory based products, so they are doing their part to grow the market. Were the labels to increase prices now, that would probably kill the market and any remaining GOODWILL they have earned with the ease of use and access to the ITunes music store.

But, of course, in a free society, business people are free to royally screw up good ideas.

Economics 101

Mr. Warner and the Record Labels seem to have forgotten their Enco 101: Price Elasticity.

I other words, Mr. Warner and the Labels are losing No Money with lower prices. They are making it up in volume and volumn. If there were a shortage of CD's for sale, then a price increase might be justified. As Apple has considerable bandwidth to handle the load, no price increase is required.

Now, is a critical stage in music downloading, Apple is selling IPods at very competitive prices, esp. the flash memory based products, so they are doing their part to grow the market. Were the labels to increase prices now, that would probably kill the market and any remaining GOODWILL they have earned with the ease of use and access to the ITunes music store.

But, of course, in a free society, business people are free to royally screw up good ideas.

[skeptik]

That's what I've been saying.

"Armitage said part of the problem is that record labels aren't passing on the savings from selling music in digital format to their customers.
Given the savings in distribution and packaging costs, pay-per-download services can also afford to get a lot cheaper.
Record companies make more money on iTunes than they do on CDs"

And how do you explain this? Well the industry says the higher perceived value and convenience factor makes up for it. The same twisted logic they used to justify a CD costing more than a tape or LP, even though they were cheaper to make.

Of course the consumers recognize this as simple GREED. It used to be when production costs dropped, savings were passed to consumers, consumers bought more, the economy grew and everyone won. The entertainment industry seems to think consumers are locked into their model and will bear whatever they are given. They use excessive legislation, lawsuits and threats to legitimate companies (BitTorrent et all) to enforce their skewed take on reality.

Is it any wonder P2P still thrives?

And let's not even get into the topic of incompatibility with various players. With CDs I bought music and it played on whatever CD player I used. Now the industry wants to control harware as well leading to the need to purchase the same song multiple times... (so they don't lose revenue on piracy they say!)

Nope, none for me, thanks.

[skeptik]

That's what I've been saying.

"Armitage said part of the problem is that record labels aren't passing on the savings from selling music in digital format to their customers.
Given the savings in distribution and packaging costs, pay-per-download services can also afford to get a lot cheaper.
Record companies make more money on iTunes than they do on CDs"

And how do you explain this? Well the industry says the higher perceived value and convenience factor makes up for it. The same twisted logic they used to justify a CD costing more than a tape or LP, even though they were cheaper to make.

Of course the consumers recognize this as simple GREED. It used to be when production costs dropped, savings were passed to consumers, consumers bought more, the economy grew and everyone won. The entertainment industry seems to think consumers are locked into their model and will bear whatever they are given. They use excessive legislation, lawsuits and threats to legitimate companies (BitTorrent et all) to enforce their skewed take on reality.

Is it any wonder P2P still thrives?

And let's not even get into the topic of incompatibility with various players. With CDs I bought music and it played on whatever CD player I used. Now the industry wants to control harware as well leading to the need to purchase the same song multiple times... (so they don't lose revenue on piracy they say!)

Nope, none for me, thanks.